Chapter 21! I am so sorry it's taken me this long to update, but hopefully I'll do much better about that since I'm out of school for the summer now. I can't decide how much more of this I want to do so I'd love to hear everyone's opinion on if I should go into a lot more detail of everything leading up to the very last part of the movie, or just do it all in one more chapter and call it done. Enjoy!

The rest of the week went by much too quickly and before I knew it, Colonel Burwell and my father had to leave, the two week furlough over.

"Be careful out there. Don't forget your promise." I said to Colonel Burwell, standing close to him, both of my hands in his.

"Of course. Don't worry, I will come back to you. I'll write as often as I can." He said and I nodded. He leaned down and kissed me, lingering for a moment. I said good-bye to my father and watched with my family as they both rode off, going back to that hell hole called a war. A few weeks went by and I had not heard from Colonel Burwell yet, which made me start to worry a bit, but I went on with what had become my normal life on the island. One morning, about six and a half weeks after Father and Colonel Burwell had left, I began getting very sick. This went on for a few days until Aunt Charlotte convinced me to see a doctor.

"Do you know what's wrong, doctor?" I asked anxiously when he was done doing a full examination of me.

"Nothing is wrong. Quite the opposite, actually." The doctor said.

"What do you mean?" I said, confused.

"Mrs. Burwell, you're going to have a baby." He said with a smile. I just sat there, shocked. A baby? I didn't want to have a baby in the middle of this war

"Thank you, doctor." Aunt Charlotte said and led me out of the room. "You don't seem pleased." She said as we walked.

"What? Oh, no, I am please thrilled actually, but I don't want to have a baby with this war going on," I said.

"Well, there's no choice in the matter really, is there? You ought to write to Colonel Burwell and tell him the news." Aunt Charlotte said, always the voice of reason.

"Yes. He will be very happy to hear this news." I said. I sat down and just sat there for a minute, not completely sure how to start the letter, then began writing:

My dearest Harry,

I have not received a letter from you yet, but I have some news to tell you. I am not exactly sure how to say this, so I will just say it outright. I am with child. I know you will be very happy to receive this news, but I can honestly say that I am still in shock about it. I hope to hear from you soon.

Your loving wife,

Sarah

I had the letter sent out that day and was anxious to hear back from him. A few days passed before a letter arrived.

"Sarah! You've got a letter!" I heard Aunt Charlotte yell from outside and ran out there as quick as I could.

"From Harry?" I asked, taking the letter from Aunt Charlotte as she nodded. I took it from her and hurried back inside to read it.

Sarah,

I am very sorry it has taken me this long to write to you. There is a skirmish with the British almost every day now and it is very hard to find time to do much of anything. We have just moved into Raleigh in North Carolina and hope to soon be in Virginia. To say that I am happy about the news of a child is a severe understatement. I could hardly contain my excitement when I read your letter. I know you worry about having a child with this war going on, but this war will be over soon, I can feel it.

Your loving husband,

Harry

I put the letter away in a safe place after reading it and went outside to see what everyone was doing. I saw Abigaile and Aunt Charlotte by the shore line and decided to go join them.

"Do you need help with anything?" I asked as I sat beside them.

"You should be resting Sarah. It'll be a lot different now that you're pregnant." Abigaile said, scrubbing a shirt.

"I can still help with everything." I said.

"You go back in there and rest, you hear?" Abigaile said, giving me a look. I sighed and did as she said.

Another few weeks went by and Harry was still unable to write to me much and I tried to keep myself busy as much as possible, but that became increasingly difficult as my pregnancy began to show. The worst day of my life happened in these few weeks, the same day I received the letter from Harry telling me the war was over and he would come back to me soon. I had learned how to mend and even make fishing nets since it was something I could do while sitting down when it happened. I was working on a net with one of the slaves that lived on the island when I started to feel a little dizzy. I didn't think much of it because I had been sitting out in the sun all day, but I knew something was wrong when Aunt Charlotte came over to me and asked in alarm, "Sarah, are you okay?" I gave her a confused look and looked down to see what she was looking at. My eyes grew wide when I saw blood on my skirt, lots of blood. I stood up suddenly and got very dizzy, I could feel the blood running down my legs and I think that was when I fainted because the next thing I could remember was waking up laying on a bed. I opened my eyes slowly, the light from outside being bright, and when I looked around and saw Aunt Charlotte, Abigaile, and all of my brothers and sisters standing around my bed, I knew something was wrong. I tried to sit up, but Aunt Charlotte pushed me back down gently.

"What happened?" I asked, trying to remember. Aunt Charlotte and Abigaile shared a weary glance.

"Sarah, I am so, so sorry. The doctor did everything he could, but you lost the baby." Aunt Charlotte said and I could see tears in her eyes. I was speechless, then remembered all the blood I had seen on my dress. I just stared at the space in front of me, not exactly sure how to react to this news.

"Sarah?" I heard Aunt Charlotte said and turned to look at her again, only then realizing there were tears streaming down my face. I let out a choked sob, breaking down completely. I barely noticed Abigaile leading my brothers and sisters outside as Aunt Charlotte sat on my bed and made me sit up, wrapping her arms around me tightly, not even needing to say any words of comfort to me. I'm not sure how long I cried, but before long Abigaile brought me some food, a simple supper of bread and some sort of soup, but I couldn't even taste it as I ate. Susan tried to make me feel better numerous times over the next week, but I felt completely numb and cut off from any kind of emotion, just going through the motions of everyday things that were necessary to keep my body functioning. I might not have even noticed when Harry and my father came back from the war if I hadn't been so glad to see them both, even with all of their wounds from battle. I was inside, mindlessly mending a shirt of Tomas's, when they arrived. I didn't go outside to greet them, not hearing all of the commotion going on outside.

"Sarah." I heard someone say my name from the doorway, making me look up. It felt like my heart jumped into my throat when I saw Harry standing there.

"Harry." I said softly and slowly stood up, putting the shirt on the chair I had been sitting on. We walked towards each other slowly and I wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face in his chest as his arms circled around me and I began sobbing again, the numbness I had been feeling giving way to intense feelings of grief and sorrow, confusing Harry.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" he asked in alarm, pulling away to look at me again.

"Harry, I –" I started, but was unable to get the words out. He led me over to a chair and made me sit down, kneeling in front of me.

"Sarah, what has made you so upset?" he asked me gently, concern very clear in his voice.

"Harry, the baby. I lost the baby." I managed to choke out, fresh tears falling down my cheeks. I put my face in my hands, sobbing harder if that were even possible. Harry stood me up, wrapping his arms around me tightly as I cried. When I looked up at him, he was crying too and it broke my heart to see a man like him crying.

"We'll get through this." He said simply, his hand going to my face and I nodded, knowing that he was right. He bent down and kissed me, all of our feelings of sadness very clear in that one lingering kiss. When we broke apart he kissed my forehead and wrapped his arms tightly around me again as I cried silently. I assumed Aunt Charlotte told my father the bad news since no one bothered me and Harry for a long time. We didn't even talk, we just sat there in each other's arms for a while and I tried my hardest not to think about the fact that this was the second child Harry had lost and I just hoped I could give him as many children as he wanted after this. After a couple of hours, my father finally came to see me, the doctor with him.

"Sarah, the doctor is here to see how you're doing." My father said.

"Of course, I'd nearly forgotten." I said, standing up, and greeted the doctor.

"I'll wait outside with your father." Harry said, coming up behind me.

"You can stay. I want you to." I said, looking up at him and he nodded. The doctor did another full examination of me and I hoped everything was okay until I saw the doctor's expression.

"I believe you will be able to have children, but pregnancy will be very difficult. I usually tell patients in this case that it is ill advised to try having more children, but I think you may get through at least one child." The doctor said, but I wasn't sure if that was good or bad news.

"Thank you, doctor." I said and he left, my father coming in.

"Charlotte told me about the baby. What did the doctor say?" my father said.

"I should be able to have children, but it would be difficult." I said hollowly, my father just nodding.

"Well, I have some news that may come as a shock to you, but maybe it will cheer you up. Charlotte has agreed to marry me." My father said.

"Oh that's wonderful!" I said, finally smiling again for the first time in over a week.

"When will the ceremony be held?" Harry asked.

"Tomorrow." My father said and I was a little surprised at how soon it would be.

"There are so many things that need to be done." I said, standing up, very glad to have a distraction.

"Abigaile is handling everything. You spend some time with your husband. You have a lot of time to make up for." My father said and kissed my cheek before leaving again. I felt slightly crestfallen, but at the same time knew that he was right, I had missed Harry very much during the time he wasn't around.

I know, kind of a terrible ending, but I really wasn't sure how to end this one. It's also kind of short, but I didn't want to make it super long so I saved the other wedding for the next chapter. I'd love to know what you thought of this one! Thanks! :)